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A new local business is hoping to make travelling to and from Syracuse, N.Y., a lot easier for car-less Kingstonians.

Shuttle Kingston, which is just a few weeks old, was originally created to fill a void for residents who wanted to fly out of Syracuse, owner Dino Ranchod said, but the scope of the business soon expanded.

“My idea was to not only do the airport, but I wanted to take passengers down to Watertown, the Salmon Run Mall (in Watertown, N.Y.), and Destiny U.S.A. (in Syracuse),” Ranchod said.

Ranchod, who had been looking for a new business idea, heard the same complaints over and over again that there was no way to get to Syracuse directly from Kingston except by taxi or limousine.

Even though it wasn’t his business idea in the first place — he credits his friend, Ron, who decided not to take part in the venture — it was Ranchod who saw it through to fruition.

To get the business up and running, it was more than just buying an eight-passenger van and creating a website, he said.

The regulatory hurdles he had to clear on both sides of the border were substantial, he said. The search for a company that would insure the van took three months alone, he explained.

Ranchod also had to come to a compromise with a bus company that was already offering rides to Syracuse, albeit a route that included stops in Ottawa, Cornwall and Brockville before Syracuse.

“As long as I do not combine passengers that are taking the charter with my airport passengers, I’m fine,” he said.

To help him with his business launch, Ranchod turned to the Kingston Economic Development Corp.’s entrepreneur centre.

“They approached us and we just helped them, the small business office, get it off the ground and helped them with some marketing ideas, some promotions and connected them with some people,” said its manager, Mark Hanley.

Having a shuttle service to the Syracuse airport may ultimately benefit Kingston as well as its residents, both Hanley and Ranchod said.

Ranchod feels that his service will also give Upstate New York residents a way to travel north, since there isn’t a U.S.-based service, either.

The Syracuse airport may make it easier for some Canada-bound passengers to circumvent flying to Toronto and then to Kingston, Hanley feels.

“If we can get them to fly into there and we have a shuttle service that brings them in to town, across the border on the ground, it may attract more businesspeople to Kingston.”

Once it establishes itself, and depending on the number of bookings, Shuttle Kingston will offer trips twice a day to Syracuse — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — Ranchod said.

People interested in booking a trip with the new company can do so over the phone or online, Ranchod said.

The company has adopted an online booking system and is still finalizing its trip prices.

Travellers can opt to stay overnight in Syracuse and be picked up the next day, he said.

Ranchod hopes to one day expand his business to a second van and pass it along to his son, Alex, who is currently studying travel and tourism at St. Lawrence College.

To find out more about the trips and rates available, go to www.shuttlekingston.com.